Google Maps Disables Swimming Directions

Back in March 2007, Google Maps had an easter egg that allowed people to search for directions from places like New York to London, and it would tell you to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. It was a little geek joke that caused a lot of buzz.

But at some point, Google disabled those directions. I am not sure when, but a Google Maps Help thread asks what happened to the neat gag? The Maps user said:

Darn it, when did Google get rid of the "swim across the atlantic ocean" gag?! That was the best "easter egg" type feature I ever saw in any professional application, ever. If it was business users who complained which ended this feature please at least bring it back as an option. It was a really neat joke which was obviously not intended to be taken seriously. It was the kind of thing that made Google "cool."

I am not sure when it stopped working, but it was something cool that Google did.